Gaza’s largest and second largest hospitals, Al Shifa and Al-Quds, said they were closing to new patients on Sunday. With half of the territory’s hospitals now out of action, there are ever fewer places for the injured.
Meanwhile, International NGO Human Rights Watch has said that Israel’s repeated attacks on medical facilities, health personnel and ambulances in Gaza should be “investigated as war crimes”.
The Israeli military’s “apparently unlawful attacks” are further destroying Gaza’s healthcare system at a time when medics have unprecedented numbers of severely injured patients, and hospitals have run out of medicine and basic equipment, the group said on Tuesday.
Patients and internally displaced people at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on November 10, 2023 [Khader Al Zanoun/AFP]
As of November 10, two-thirds of primary healthcare facilities and half of all hospitals in Gaza are not functioning, according to the United Nations. And as of November 12, at least 521 people, including 16 medical workers, have been killed in 137 “attacks on health care” in Gaza, the World Health Organization said.
Palestinians check the damage after a convoy of ambulances was hit by an Israeli air strike at the entrance of al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, on November 3, 2023 [File:Mohammed Al-Masri/Reuters]Medical workers treat a Palestinian injured in an Israeli strike, using flashlights due to the power cut, at the Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, November 10. REUTERS/Anas al-ShareefA Palestinian child cries next to a woman after Israeli strikes, at a hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, November 13. REUTERS/Mohammed SalemDoctors treat an injured man using a mobile phone flashlight in Indonesian Hospital due to the power cut in Gaza, November 12. Ahmed Al Arini/via REUTERSMedical workers treat a Palestinian injured in an Israeli strike, using flashlight due to the power cut at the Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, November 10. REUTERS/Anas al-ShareefA Palestinian man wounded in Israeli strikes lies on the floor at Al Shifa hospital in Gaza City, November 9. REUTERS/Doaa RouqaA doctor tends to a Palestinian child, following Israeli strikes, at a hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, November 13. REUTERS/Mohammed SalemMedical workers try to rescue Palestinian baby Mosab Sobieh, who is less than a year old and was injured in an Israeli strike on their home, at the Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, November 12. REUTERS/Anas al-ShareefA woman reacts while sitting with Palestinian children wounded in Israeli strikes waiting to receive treatment at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, November 12. REUTERS/Mohammed SalemA Palestinian child wounded in Israeli strikes looks on at Nasser hospital, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, November 12. REUTERS/Mohammed SalemA Palestinian child wounded in Israeli strikes waits to receive treatment at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, November 12. REUTERS/Mohammed SalemPalestinian casualties are assisted at the Indonesian Hospital that ran out of fuel and electricity, in the northern Gaza Strip, November 11. REUTERS/Anas al-ShareefA Palestinian girl wounded in Israeli strikes is assisted at Al Shifa hospital, in Gaza City, November 9. REUTERS/Doaa RouqaA woman reacts as relatives of Baraka and Abu Reda family mourn near their bodies at a hospital, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, November 13. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
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